Diana Ross

‘Failure Was Impossible Because I Made No Space for Anything Negative. I Could Only Visualise Success’

- Michelle Davies

She started her career in Detroit at a time of deep segregation, yet rose to global success. Still working at 73, she’s a testament to the power of self-belief.

The torch that five-year-old Diana Ross carried on stage during Balch Elementary School’s musical production of Hansel And Gretel was supposed to resemble a candle. But as the children began to sing, Ross had other ideas – and shone it on her face like a spotlight. ‘She wanted to make sure she had her moment,’ recalled her class teacher, Julia Page. The show in Detroit in 1949 was Ross’s first taste of wowing an audience – and the public’s first encounter with her notorious diva tendencies.

Now 73, she is one of the most successful female singers of all time, selling more than 100 million records as a solo artist and with The Supremes combined. Still performing, she’s just finished yet another world tour.

The singer was born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross on 26 March 1944 in Detroit, Michigan. Her father, Fred, was a one-time professional boxer, and her mother, Ernestine, was a teacher. The second eldest of six children, Ross was a scrappy tomboy who stood up to bullies. ‘She taught [us] how to fight, that’s how tough she was,’ says her younger brother Chico. In 1958, when she was 14, the family moved to the Brewster Douglass housing projects in Detroit. A year later, Berry Gordy founded the Motown record label in the city, and joining his roster of singers became a burning ambition for many youngsters in the projects.